Massachusetts taxes too high

No one likes paying taxes, but almost every one of us does it. And our tax money pays for important priorities that make Massachusetts an attractive place to live and raise a family. But as millions of our residents sat at kitchen tables and wrote large checks to the commonwealth this month, they undoubtedly asked themselves, "Why do I have to pay so much?"

It's a good question. The truth is that it shouldn't cost this much, and it most definitely shouldn't cost any more.

A new report by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that Massachusetts has the 11th highest tax burden in the country, with residents paying an average of 10.3 percent of their income in state and local taxes.

In most states, this information would spark some dialogue about current tax policy. The reaction on Beacon Hill? Silence.

Given the make-up of the state's leadership, it's not surprising. When one party is in control, the healthy tension between competing viewpoints on raising taxes versus spending cuts (and almost every other issue) doesn't exist. The lack of balance on Beacon Hill has paved the way for more spending, reduced transparency and efficiency, and, yes, increased taxes.

The most recent tax increase passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Deval Patrick is a perfect example of how this works. The conversation started with Mr. Patrick calling for a massive $2 billion increase in taxes. The Senate responded with a call for an $800 million increase, to which the House, in the position of the defender of the taxpayer, put a $500 million increase on the table.

Not once did the conversation explore finding spending cuts to offset increases in spending. Nor did anyone on Beacon Hill seriously consider the adverse impact increasing taxes could have on the state's economic recovery.

In short, the debate wasn't about whether to raise taxes, it was about how big to make the increase.

In addition, the final package included two terrible pieces of tax policy — a tech tax, and a gas tax that will never stop growing. Thankfully, Beacon Hill figured out — albeit after the fact — that the tech tax would have put a stake through the heart of our fast-growing start-up community, and repealed it.

Unfortunately, the gas tax increase, which contains an automatic trigger tying it to inflation, is still law, setting an especially dangerous precedent that should be offensive to every taxpayer regardless of party.

If you want to increase taxes, you should have the courage to cast a vote in support of it. Every time.

It doesn't have to be this way. State government needs to be pointed in a new direction, where the focus is growing the economy, reforming state government, and restoring recent cuts in local aid to our cities and towns.

When I worked in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, we treated our businesses as partners, not adversaries, streamlining unnecessary regulations and reducing the cost of doing business. The result: The Massachusetts economy soared — 500,000 new jobs, and our unemployment rate went from highest in the nation to lowest in the nation over that same period of time. And we cut taxes — 27 times.

Since 2009, local aid has been cut by $400 million while the state budget has grown by more than $6 billion. As a result, property taxes have increased by an average of 25 percent and many local governments have made cuts in personnel and core services, including public safety.

This needs to stop.

Massachusetts is a leader in creating new, better, less expensive ways of doing all sorts of things, but state government does little or none of it. Beacon Hill is happy to get creative about ways to take money from us — like high-speed toll collecting — but has no urgency about creating a modern RMV that doesn't require hours of standing in line.

It's time state government embraced the innovation that is going on all around it.

In spite of what you hear from Beacon Hill, state government doesn't have a revenue problem. Nor does the state lack resources to properly fund our education, transportation, and social service priorities.

What it lacks is imagination, and a leader that will challenge the status quo.

Charlie Baker is a Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts.